Bug out bags and 72 hour survival kits are a must for pretty much any human being, no matter where they live. While some may not live near a fault or in a tornado prone area, it makes sense to have supplies that you can take with you if you needed to leave your home for whatever reason.
There are a lot of different 72 Hour Kits, Survival Kits, & Emergency Kits on the market. Pretty much every food storage company sells them, and there are manufacturer like Life Gear who make bug out bags. While there are some decent kits on the market you are going to be better off making the kit yourself. Not only will you save money, you will get higher quality items for the money spent if you follow some of our tips:
1. Decide what goes inside. By visiting websites that sell survival kits as well as popular survival blogs written by reputable experts in the field you can create a list of items you will want to add to your kit.
2. Personalize by geography. Now that you have gathered what the typical kits has from step 1, you want to look at your specific area and determine if those items are sufficient or if you need something else. Someone from Minnesota is going to build a kit differently than someone in Arizona.
You must be prepared for the grab n go situation to occur at any time of the year so preparing for all possible temperatures is a must. You can live weeks without food, and days without water but if you are not warm and dry you can die within hours.
3. Personalize kits for your family. Your family likely has unique needs that won’t be met with comprehensive bug out bags found online. For example medications (or other medical needs) are something that you will want to prepare for.
4. 72 Hours May Not be Enough. Many don’t realize it but you can add a little more food and water and turn your 72 hour bag into a 120 hour bag (5 days). There are plenty of situations where you are going to need more time so plan on it, whether it is calorie bars or MREs it makes sense to add a little more.
5. Plan your Rendezvous Point. Pick a place where family members can go in the event of leaving town. Not everyone will be together at the time of an event and communication such as phones might be down so pick a place now and plan to go there if you staying at your home is not an option. Remote locations with resources such as water, game, and shelter are preferable.
6. Have a Plan. While picking a spot to gather is a great step to take there are other things that everyone in your family/group needs to know so everyone is on the same page. Some things you will want to plan out are evacuation routes, modes of transportation, who to invite into your circle, how much money to carry and which self defense measures you are going to want to put in place for those in your group.
